Innovation in the building process — a postgraduate module

Innovation has contributed greatly to the advancement of civil engineering. Indeed, it has been necessary to innovate to be able to construct many of the engineering works standing today. This paper discusses the issues involved in introducing students to the concept of innovation in the construction process. Arguably, innovation cannot be taught as such since as soon as an innovative material, product or method has evolved enough to be discussed by third parties, it is not new and can only be seen in a historical perspective — the innovation process is complete. All that can be taught, therefore, is a methodology for finding innovative solutions.